


Aftermath

by Edgy_Moony



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Abuse Aftermath, Based on a Poem, PTSD, Rape Aftermath, Slight suicide thoughts, tw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 09:23:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11871354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Edgy_Moony/pseuds/Edgy_Moony
Summary: "The thing no one ever tells you when you leave an emotionally abusive relationship is there are gonna be days when you miss them. It's like that moment you take your glasses off and everything slides out of place,blurry and unfinished. What was once so clearly a tree is no longer one, it could be anything,this big blur of green and brown."Or the Archie Andrews realizes he was abused fic nobody asked for





	Aftermath

He thinks of her some days. Not just what she did to him,other things. Good things. He'll see a red rose on some girl's notebook and think of the flowers on her living room table, he'll hear a song on the radio and think of how they could of played it together. He'll get sick of being treated like a kid and think of how she called him “mature”. Good things,small things. 

 

Jughead and Betty watch him, waiting for him to snap,waiting for a dramatic,loud breakdown. It's not gonna happen like that,he knows. She didn't break him all at once,didn't  _ smash _ ,just  _ cracked,over and over again _ . 

 

His dad sends him to therapy. He's in the waiting room when,for the first time,a good thing becomes a bad thing. He hears a song on the radio. Some folksy song with a violin, something they could have played together. The lyrics romantic about first dates down by the river. 

 

His entire body tenses up, his fists clenching so hard he can feel the bones creak. He clenches his eyes shut then pops them open when his breath gets stolen,he makes a big inhale noise but it just draws air into empty lungs,his eyes are open wide and he's making a show of breathing. He must look like fish out of water,he must look like a dying man. He wonders sometimes if he  _ is _ a dying man,if he's just coming apart slowly a piece of him dying every time he remembers some other part of him she touched. 

 

He goes with Jughead to Toledo visit his mom and sister, Mrs.Jones is familiar,with her warm smile and the lines around her eyes and mouth,and oh my god she's too young to have that many stress lines,is that what he'll look like one day,  _ is this what dying slowly looks like?  _ She hugs him hard and he tries not to flinch. 

 

They take Jellybean to the beach. She strips off her skull tee shirt and ripped jeans and jumps into the water enthusiastically,like the kid she's trying so hard not to be. Jughead swears and hurries to follow and Archie follows more slowly. The water is chilly and heavy and it seems like an endless distance to get to where the Jones siblings are standing, Jelly laughing and smirking as Jughead jumps away from her splashing at him,his arms going up to protect his hat. 

 

Archie shivers as some of the water hits him instead. Jelly smiles at him apologetically and says”It's super cold but once you've been in for a while it gets warmer.” And Archie wants to shake her,wants to take her and run, wants to yell that that's not it at all! That you do not get warmer,you just let the cold in and once it gets under your skin, seeps into your bones you can't ever defrost it,you can only cover up the frostbite and  _ why hasn't anyone told you this yet,Jellybean Jones,you're going to get hurt. _

  
Archie is so tired. He just wants to walk out into the water until he can't see anything,because then he won't have to try to figure out  _ good  _ or  _ bad _ ,because everything looks the same when you're drowning. 


End file.
